Oct. 23, 2012
Box Score | Final Series Stats
THE FLATS – Junior righty Jonathan Roberts gave #TeamFarmer five strong innings, and his team held on for 7-6 win over #TeamDove Tuesday to capture Georgia Tech’s three-game White-Gold Series at Russ Chandler Stadium. The annual series concludes the Yellow Jackets’ fall practice schedule.
With Roberts in control, #TeamFarmer opened a 6-0 lead through two innings, made it 7-0 in the fourth, but watched for the second consecutive game as the Gold Team whittle away at the lead in the late innings.
Sophomore A.J. Murray finished 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while juniors Kyle Wren and Zane Evans each had two hits. Run-scoring singles from Murray, Evans and Charles Sheffield allowed #TeamFarmer to take a 3-0 lead in the first, and Wren’s two-run homer to right made it 6-0 in the second.
“Murray has really had a great fall and he’s definitely a guy in the mix to play a lot for us,” said head coach Danny Hall. “And I’m really impressed with what Roberts has done this fall. He’s made great improvement and his last two times on the mound have been very good.”
The lead was plenty big enough for Roberts, who retired 10 consecutive in-between a one-out single to Brandon Thomas in the first inning and a two-out walk to Sam Dove in the fourth. Roberts picked up the win in the decisive game by allowing four hits, one run and one walk with four strikeouts in five innings (61 pitches).
Murray’s RBI single in the fourth made it 7-0, and that run would prove to be the difference.
Alex Cruz got #TeamDove’s late-game rally started with an RBI single up the middle in fifth. Thomas added a solo homer to left in the sixth and freshman Matt Gonzalez followed later that frame with sacrifice fly to make it 7-3.
After Gregory Feinberg (double) and Dylan Dore (error) reached to lead off the seventh, Daniel Palka pulled #TeamDove within a run when he launched a two-out, monster three-run homer down the right-field line. But the Gold got no closer.
After winning Friday’s series-opener 5-2, #TeamDove was on the short end of a pair of 7-6 decisions that clinched the series for #TeamFarmer.
Daniel Spingola picked up another hit in Tuesday’s game and the sophomore led all players in the White-Gold Series by hitting .667 (6-for-9) with a triple and an RBI. Murray was 7-for-12 (.583) over the three games with three runs, while Thomas (6-for-12) had a double, homered twice and scored three times.
Georgia Tech resumes practice in late January, and the defending ACC Champions open the 2013 season on February 15 versus Akron at Russ Chandler Stadium.
